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Hundreds of Seattleites line up before dawn for new iPhones

SEATTLE - Hundreds of people lined up well before dawn on Friday to get their hands on the latest iPhones.

At Seattle's University Village, many turned out the night before to be first in line. And by sunrise on Friday, there was a quite a scene.

Two new iPhones are now available - the 5S and 5C. The 5C is the first plastic i-Phone.

The folks who spent hours waiting for store doors to open say they are not crazy to sit out here all night long.

"It seems to have become a tradition," says Gordon Anderson. "And we're out here partying, having a good time."

Julian Campillo was also there.

"It's not for the iPhone - everybody thinks it's for the iPhone - it's not the iPhone. It's an event," he says. "Many years from now, grandkids are going to say, 'Oh look, people lined up for these things, and I'm going to be able to say, 'You know, I lined up for one of those once."

The new phones have an operating system that is more colorful and faster.

The lower-cost iPhone 5C is available in five colors - green, blue, yellow, pink and white. CEO Tim Cook calls it "more fun and colorful" than any other iPhone. The 5C has a 4-inch Retina display and is powered by Apple's A6 chip. It also has an 8 megapixel camera, live photo filters and a rear cover that lights up.

The iPhone 5C costs $99 for a 16 gigabyte model and $199 for a 32 gigabyte model with a two-year wireless contract.

The second phone, the 5S, is "the most forward-looking phone we have ever created," said Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple. It comes in silver, gold and "space gray" and run a new chip, the A7 that is up to twice as fast as the A6.

Schiller said the new phone can run more health and fitness applications. These apps have become increasingly popular as more people use them to track exercise routines, calorie intake and even sleep patterns.

The camera in the 5S received some major upgrades, including several automatic features designed to produce better photos.

The 5S also includes "Touch ID," which reads fingerprints at a "detailed level," Schiller said. He said it is "fun and easy" to teach the 5S about your fingerprint and once you do, you can just touch the home button to unlock the phone.

For buyers entering a two-year contract with a wireless carrier, the phone will cost $199 for 16 gigabytes of memory, $299 for 32 and $399 for 64.